# CVE-2021-21069: Adobe Creative Cloud Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by calling installer functions in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application without user interaction.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Mar 2021
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h3f9-x7c2-q5h9

## What is CVE-2021-21069?

CVE-2021-21069 is a high-severity vulnerability in Adobe Creative Cloud (desktop component), published on 12 Mar 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application version 5.3 (and earlier) is affected by a local privilege escalation vulnerability that could allow an attacker to call functions against the installer to perform high privileged actions. Exploitation of this issue does not require user interaction.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-21069?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-21069?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-21069 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-21069 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21069 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Adobe Creative Cloud (desktop component)

- [CVE-2020-9671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9671/): Privilege escalation in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-9682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9682/): Path traversal in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-9670](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9670/): Path traversal in Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop Application (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-48272](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48272/): Creative Cloud Desktop | Uncontrolled Search Path Element (CWE-427) (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2026-48344](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-48344/): GoCart | Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition (CWE-367) (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-21069 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-21069 is a high-severity vulnerability in Adobe Creative Cloud (desktop component), published on 12 Mar 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21069 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Adobe Creative Cloud (desktop component). No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21069/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21069/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-21069
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21069
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-21069

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21069/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.